Dan Kennedy's blog on media and politics • published by the Boston Phoenix from 2002 to 2005

Thursday, December 11, 2003

Koppel's disgraceful
performance. Ted Koppel decided that Tuesday night's Democratic
presidential debate was about him and his fellow members of the elite
media. I've got a piece
in today's Boston Phoenix about Koppel's sneering, dismissive
focus on the Al Gore endorsement, polls, and fundraising.

Koppel bloviated for a half-hour
asking every candidate but Howard Dean questions that were variations
on the same theme: Why don't you get out of the race right
now?

You should read William Saletan's
analysis
in Slate. Here's his best line:

These were the last 90
debating minutes of the year - a crucial opportunity for every
candidate other than Dean - and Koppel wasted 30 of those minutes
on questions barely worthy of aides in bars.

Bob Somerby at the Daily
Howler promises to weigh in
on Koppel's disgraceful performance later today.

Incredibly, there is at least one
reporter out there who thinks the real problem was that the
candidates were rude to Koppel. You can't make this stuff up. Sam
Pfeifle, the managing editor of the Portland Phoenix, directed
me to this exchange
at yesterday's White House press briefing, conducted by press
secretary Scott McClellan:

Q: Do you remember any
incident where the President has ever treated any member of the
media as insultingly as those Democrat presidential candidates did
to Ted Koppel last night?

McClellan: Didn't see the
debate, Les, so -

Q: You didn't see the debate?
You read about it. You certainly saw what those people did to Ted
Koppel. Now, has the President ever done anything -

McClellan: I'm focused on our
business here at the White House at the direction of the
President.

Dear Les: Koppel is seriously lucky
that none of the candidates walked over and pinched off his inflated
head.

Other than Dennis Kucinich's
excellent eruption (read the Phoenix piece for details),
perhaps the most telling exchange
was between Koppel and John Kerry. Remember, I'm not making this
up.

Koppel: Senator Kerry, at
the risk of exposing myself to yet another lecture - not from you,
from Congressman Kucinich and the others down here ...

(LAUGHTER)

... what is it that Governor
Dean has done right? Whether or not people want to
acknowledge it, he does have more money than anybody else in this
campaign; he is doing better in the polls than any of the rest of
you. He's got to be doing something right. Is there
anything to be learned from his campaign?

Kerry: Well, Ted, I'll tell
you, there's something to be learned from your question. And
if I were an impolite person, I'd tell you where you could take
your polls.

(LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

You know, this has got to stop.

Kerry then went on to talk about a
New Hampshire family whose water supply has been ruined by corporate
polluters.

Afterward, as the C-SPAN camera
panned the spin room, it caught Kerry schmoozing up CNN's Tucker
Carlson and another guy. Kerry was telling them that the most
important difference between him and Dean is that Dean wants to
repeal the middle-class tax cuts of the Bush years.

Why didn't you talk about
that? chirped Carlson.

"We spent all our time talking
about polls," Kerry responded with a weary smile. He gave the other
guy a playful pat on the cheek and walked away.

And now we learn that ABC News -
Koppel's network, if you'd forgotten - has decided to stop having
producers (off-camera reporters) travel with Kucinich, Al Sharpton,
and Carol Moseley Braun.

Kucinich is outraged,
of course. I'm put off more by the timing than by the decision
itself. The media have a right to make some judgments; they
are not obligated to spend money to cover every candidate. And the
next president is not going to be Kucinich, Moseley Braun, or
Sharpton.

But for ABC to do this the day
after Kucinich's one shining moment in the campaign shows a sickening
disregard for appearances and propriety. Besides, having covered the
three for this long, why not just keep doing it for a few more weeks,
until the New Hampshire primary is over and a few actual people have
had a chance to vote?

This has been a depressing week for
anyone who worries about the media's willingness to play their
crucial role in a democratic society.

New in this week's
Phoenix. In addition to the debate piece, I take a look at
the prospects for a liberal
radio network to compete
with the likes of Rush Limbaugh.

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About Media Log Archives

The Boston Phoenix's Media Log was launched in 2002 by the paper's then-media columnist, Dan Kennedy, who continued it until he left the paper in 2005. The Phoenix's current media columnist, Adam Reilly, is now the author of Media Log, which has since been renamed Don't Quote Me. Kennedy, an assistant professor of journalism at Northeastern University, blogs at Media Nation.